


And if you have nightmares, we'll dance on the bed

by enbypitch (endinflames)



Series: Aspen's works for Carry On Coundown 2020 (COC 2020) [5]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms, Simon Snow Trilogy
Genre: COC 2020, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2020, Carry On Countdown Day 5, Coping, Epic Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentioned Ebeneza "Ebb" Petty, Mentioned Simon Snow, Mentioned The Mage (Simon Snow), Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Death, Nightmares, Nonbinary Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch, Penelope Bunce & Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch Friendship, Penelope Bunce is a Good Friend, Penelope Bunce is also traumatized and people usually ignore it k, Platonic Cuddling, Sleepless, Sleepy Cuddles, They/Them Pronouns for Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch, Trans Penelope Bunce, Trauma, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch is a Good Friend, i think, not cool yall, not explicitly but she trans, woohoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27923137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endinflames/pseuds/enbypitch
Summary: Penelope is plagued by nightmares. Baz, too.
Relationships: Penelope Bunce & Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch
Series: Aspen's works for Carry On Coundown 2020 (COC 2020) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026715
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2020





	And if you have nightmares, we'll dance on the bed

**Author's Note:**

> Oneshot for Carry On Countdown Day 5, NOV 29th: Sleepless

The process of “relaxing” had been something especially difficult for Penelope ever since she could remember, but after her adventures with Simon began in the First Year it had gotten a lot worse.

Falling asleep took her hours. Closing her eyes, softening her posture, becoming vulnerable, all walls down, trying not to think about anything-

That didn’t come easily to Penny. Sleeping was turning into something too difficult.

Just when she started getting used to the routine, the Humdrum kidnapped her and Simon. And, as if that weren’t traumatic by itself, their escape was absolutely sickening, and all those nightmares came.

Penny had had plenty of nightmares before, sure, but none as bad as the big, bony wings bursting out of Simon’s back, with all too many feathers and joints; her healing spells fading fast, wearing off them too quickly. The bones, the feathers, the magic, and tears, exhaustion, and screaming.

So much screaming. Her family would always burst into the room to wake her up, to tell her that _it’s okay, you’re safe now, you’re home_. She thought that would be the worst she’d get. 

She was wrong.

After the White Chapel episode, her nightmares had reached a whole new level of repulsing and off-putting. All her nightmares focused on that were painful, and she felt completely powerless and lost.

The less upsetting ones always had Agatha crying in the Snow, the Chapel’s windows shattering, the thick, burning air, and darkness, and smoke. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t sleep for a while after that, not before drinking some tea and listening to soft songs and lullabies. But she’d get back to sleep eventually.

The ones that actually kept her up starred Simon’s big, open, red wings, and the Humdrum sucking the life and the magic out of him. The Mage, always there, bloody and cruel and desperate and violent, until Simon falls, just like she’d watched back at Christmas, and the Mage shakes him and screams at him right before Baz attacks, fangs mere moments away from snapping the Mage’s neck. There’s too much blood and too many teeth, and Simon is crying and crying until he says the magic words, and the Mage drops to the floor.

After those dreams, she’d wake up sobbing, shaking, sometimes screaming. Most times, though, she couldn’t get a single sound out. She’d drink some water and stare at the ceiling for hours, trying to relax again and forget about the blood, and the smoke, and the magic, and the deaths. But she never could.

There were dreams about what came after, too. Dreams reliving how Simon cried when he realized what had happened – she still couldn’t tell if it was what she’d done, what he’d done, what they’d both done, or what the Mage had done to himself –, how drained out they were. How Simon had tried to help Ebb, and how he had cried so much more after realizing that he really couldn’t do anything for her – that no one could. She’d dream about Baz trying to control themself with all that blood around them, then feeding off the birds, desperate and thirsty and scared. How all of them were so exhausted they fell asleep between the blood and the corpses.

She’d wake up covered in sweat, nauseous, dizzy, out of breath. She’d always take a bath then, what usually woke Baz up. They were not only a light sleeper but also a vampire, which meant they’d easily hear her getting into the shower way before dawn. She wasn’t sure when or how that had started, but eventually it became a habit for them to come to her room whenever they heard something and check up on her. They’d lie down together and stare at the ceiling, both having trouble sleeping, plagued by nightmares and fear.

It was nice to spend those hours with Basil after her bad dreams. After asking her if she needed anything, they’d usually stay silent, and she'd join them, both simply counting on each other’s presence to try and relax until the clock told them it was a reasonable time to get up. Baz had their own nightmares, but, at first, they’d act like nothing was going on. They would only hold Simon tight, bury their face on his chest and pretend they could sleep through it, even though it was clear the next day that it had been a lost night.

Then Simon started to get distant, more depressed, and Baz wouldn’t sleep in his bed anymore. They often got nightmares when they spent the night there and ended up sleeping on the couch. They'd go make tea, which always woke Penelope up, because she'd always go to sleep tense. They’d both spend the entire night chatting in the kitchen or cuddling on the couch, watching some random Netflix show or any movies that were on. She’d braid their hair and they’d pretend they didn't end up crying when she held them. She’d pretend not to notice, too.

When Baz stopped staying over at all, they'd call her whenever they couldn’t sleep, and both of them wouldn’t stop talking about whatever magickal fact seemed more interesting that week until the sun was up, and the dark wasn’t a threat and the nightmares were less likely. Penelope liked to keep them company, even when she wasn’t worried about her own nightmares or insomnia. She felt like she was repaying them for all those nights they’d spent holding her. Basil never told her about their nightmares, and she didn’t need to tell them about hers. They knew. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Even considering that, Penelope finally felt that they were truly close, true friends. She started to understand better what being relaxed meant when they were near, when they could hold each other, and talk to each other, and everything else – the nightmares, the fear, the blood, the death, all of it – seemed far away.

Like they were both finally safe. Like they kept _each other_ safe.

Turns out spending that many sleepless nights with each other was way better than spending them on their own. Even if the tiredness would stay all the same during the next day.


End file.
